Microsoft: SQL Server 2008 Will Be Late

Despite public confidence that SQL Server 2008 would ship by the end of June, Microsoft today indicated it probably is more likely to arrive toward the end of the year.

Microsoft will release SQL Server 2008 to manufacturing in the third quarter, Francois Ajenstat, Microsoft's director of SQL Server project management, said today in a blog posting.

"Our goal is to deliver the highest quality product possible and we simply want to use the time to meet the high bar that you, our customers, expect," he wrote. "Over the coming months, customers and partners can look forward to significant product milestones for SQL Server."

A key milestone, he wrote, will be a CTP with all of the features intended for SQL Server, to be released in the second quarter. The final release to manufacturing (RTM) candidate will be released in the third quarter.

Observers were not surprised by the latest delay. "The last couple of CTPs were late and the idea that we're now only five months away from release seemed far-fetched," said Andrew Brust, chief of new technology at the consultiancy of TwentySix New York in an e-mail.

Brust, who also runs the New York .NET User Group, adds that he had been telling people that SQL Server would be pushed back at least once. "There's no point in pushing this out the door before it’s ready, especially when the financial results announced yesterday are so good," he added. "September 30 is fine. And for that matter, so would be end-of-year. Only real egg on their face is that the 'launch' of the product is next month."

Ajenstat wrote that the delay will have no impact on the Feb. 27 launch event.

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.